Full-time from St Andrews
Alan Dunne ended a 47-year wait with a second-half winner as Millwall finally ended their St Andrews hoodoo with a superb 1-0 victory against Birmingham City.But boy, did the wait prove to be worth it with skipper Dunne providing the all-important goal six minutes into the second-half to crown a composed, controlled team performance well worth the three points.
But it was The Lions, backed superbly by around 300 travelling fans, who made the all-important breakthrough six minutes after the restart. Fabbrini was fouled and when Dunne's initial effort from Martin's free-kick was blocked, the defender made no mistake as he steered a firm header into the roof of the net to put Millwall 1-0 ahead.
It took another save from Forde, this time low to his right, to avert the danger as David Davis' angled drive arrowed towards the bottom corner as Birmingham enjoyed a spell of pressure before the break.
The home side did rattle the woodwork once with a Jonathan Grounds header from a corner, but an equaliser would have been very harsh on the battling Lions who head to Elland Road on Saturday with renewed optimism that survival in the Championship is a distinct possibility if they can produce performances such as this.
Birmingham City: Spector (90+4mins)Booking:
Randolph, Grounds, Robinson, Gleeson, Donaldson (Zigic, 76mins), Cotterill, Shinnie (Gray, 64mins), Spector, David, Caddis, Dyer (Novak, 64mins). Subs not used: Doyle, Reilly, Hancox, Arthur.
Millwall: Dunne (51mins)Scorer:
Martin (52mins), Williams (54mins), Cummings (90+1min)
Bookings:
Forde, Cummings, Harding, Dunne, Hooiveld, Williams, Tonge, Martin (Beevers, 82mins), Fabbrini (Abdou, 88mins), Woolford, Maierhofer (Gregory, 72mins). Subs not used: Archer, Upson, Fuller, Gueye.
Ref: S. Hooper